Maryland adds charges against Pagan leader

OFF THE WIRE
BY: Kate Leckie
West Virginia - A local man at the center of a multistate sweep of the Pagans Motorcycle Club is nearing his July 13 trial date in Charleston, W.Va., on federal racketeering charges.
Now court documents also show that federal authorities in Maryland have leveled two more felony charges against David Keith "Bart" Barbeito, 50, stemming from that same sweep, which included an Oct. 6 search of his Myersville home.

Barbeito had been president of the national motorcycle club.

During the fall search, FBI agents and police turned up a cache of firearms, cash and Pagan-related items, including documents, clothing and a wall clock with the club's logo.

One firearm seized was a handgun with an obliterated serial number. A second firearm was an illegal firearm known as a "street sweeper," a semi-automatic shotgun with a large-capacity magazine.

On May 27, Barbeito was indicted in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on charges of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and possession of an unregistered firearm, according to court documents.

Barbeito's lawyers are crying foul.

In paperwork filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Charleston, Barbeito's lawyers claim the new charges were filed in Maryland only after the Frederick County man rejected plea offers extended to him between March and May.

In documents, defense attorneys Elgine Heceta McArdle and Stanley Needleman urge the court to keep the street sweeper out as evidence or to dismiss the Maryland indictment.

Contacted Friday evening, Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. attorney for Maryland, declined to comment on the status of the federal case in Maryland.

In a letter dated May 28 to U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles Jr., Rosenstein wrote that it was anticipated the Maryland charges would be transferred to West Virginia as part of a plea agreement between Barbeito and federal authorities in West Virginia.